


We All Fall Down

by chaosintheavenue



Category: Fallout (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Brain Damage, Child Loss, Funeral, Gen, Grief, Illnesses, Major Illness, Possible Covid similarities, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26221789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaosintheavenue/pseuds/chaosintheavenue
Summary: An alternate ending to New Plague in which JJ succumbs to his illness, leaving his distraught parents to sift through the remnants of a life snatched away.





	We All Fall Down

**Author's Note:**

> Super quick final warning that this is along the same lines as my last fic, AKA there are some unfortunate similarities between the fictional illness and a very real pandemic-causing one. This fic doesn't dwell on the illness itself as much, but still bear it in mind if you think you might find that uncomfortable in any way.

James:

As soon as Angela pulls open my son's eyes this time, I know that something isn't right. His left eye definitely has more blue showing than the right. But what does that even mean?!

"Is something wrong?" I ask immediately, fear beginning to knot in my stomach. Angela's face says it all, but she feels the need to reply verbally too.

"I... yes, yes it is. Give me a second."

Out comes the familiar flashlight from her pocket. She quickly flips it on and moves the beam of light across his eyes a few times.

"Oh, come on, kiddo..." she whispers, ruffling the edge of her unconscious patient's hair with her fingers as she continues her test, "Ty?"

Her aforementioned husband appears a few moments later.

"I'm not getting a response. Hit the lights," she commands. Ty obliges, and she examines my boy in the dark for a while. Then-

"James... I'm sorry. God, I'm _so_ sorry..."

"Sorry for what?" I know what those words mean when said in that tone, of course, but that's not possible. Yes, the Plague- this cruel, cowardly, evil affliction- may be holding his life for ransom in a vice grip, but... some people _did_ manage to escape its clutches before the war, and JJ happens to be the strongest, healthiest, most _vivacious_ young man I know by a long mile. I force myself to look away from Angela's activities and to the monitor screen instead. As far as I can tell, his heart is still going strong. He _will_ fight back, with everything he has if necessary, and he _will_ survive. He _must_.

To my alarm, she wipes her own eyes on her wrist before she continues, "His eyes... JJ's eyes aren't reacting to the light at all. You know what that means, don't you?"

I do. And it's too much for my heart and mind to take.

...

"J... my boy..." I choke, entangling my fingers in my poor, poor baby's beautiful hair. Hair that I would never be able to touch again. Hair that would never grow again, or be stroked by his wife, or be grabbed by his laughing children as he carried them around on his back as a game...

As much as my brain scolds me for noticing such a trivial, frivolous detail instead of committing every inch of my son's face to memory before he is ripped away from me yet again, he looks so smart and grown-up in his suit. He should have been married in this one, not... not _buried_. Returning my gaze to his blank, slightly swollen face (Angela has done an admirable job of masking the signs that his final moments were an agonised, futile struggle to cling to life), nothing feels real. _Fifteen years old_. He was struck down so quickly that we hadn't even processed his diagnosis before we had to process the unthinkable, and even now, the raw, gaping wound in my heart is numbed by the sheer shock.

"We l-love you more than you can _imagine_ , J-James Ezra. Now and forever. We'll s-see you s-soon. Sleep t-tight..." there's so, _so_ much more that remains unsaid, but I can't physically get another word out, and- and he can't hear me anyway, can he?!

What remains of the world blurs with tears as I reach up and close the coffin lid, the shadow falling across his face for the last time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I know this one was pretty heavy again, but I can't stop the JJ suffering train for some reason!
> 
> There will be more where this came from, centered around James's emotional turmoil as he comes to terms with his loss (and maybe, just maybe, learns that he didn't quite know JJ as well as he thought), but whether I'll decide to publish it remains to be seen...


End file.
